Kara
by gingerbritishgypsyelf
Summary: A girl called Kara with extraordinary mental abilities is kidnapped by aliens for study. Her rescuer is a man called the Doctor... Oneshot.


Kara

"_It was remarkable, that out of every place in the universe I could have ended up, I ended up on that ship, at that time, and I was rescued by the one man that astonished me more than any other. He was called the Doctor." -_an exert from the diary Kara kept of her travels with the Doctor.

Giving a sigh of dismay, Kara gathered up yet another stack of books that had tumbled to the floor of the bookshop. She had worked in this same shop for three summers and though she loved her work, she craved for something to happen--anything! But sadly, though Kara was quite an extraordinary girl, nothing extraordinary ever happened to her.

The silver and blue letters on the front window of the bookshop read, _The Dragon's Library_, but the paint was peeling and Kara mentally added repainting the front sign to her list of jobs. She loved the bookshop and it's owner, Mellie Responn, but she wanted _to_ do something with her life. She didn't know precisely what she wanted, but she knew whatever it was, she wasn't going to find it in the bookshop.

"Kara? Kara I'm going out all right? Can you mind the shop while I'm gone?"

It was Mellie. Though her words spoke of an important errand, Kara could hear the thoughts in the woman's head,

_This is the third time this week I've gone out on errands, I wonder if she's noticed. What if she does figure it out? I don't want to fire her. My diet is important, the doctor said I'd get better, but I can't stand all this green food! Can anyone blame me for wanting a good big helping of fish and chips? What if she tells George? We've been married six years, I don't want him to be disappointed in me…oh where is Kara?_

"Mellie?" Kara called through the shop, inwardly sighing. The woman's diet was for her own health and safety but Mellie hated it with a passion.

"Mellie didn't I tell you I had to get off early today? You said I deserved a day off,"

Melanie Responn walked between two shelves and up to the counter. She was a slightly plump woman with a cheery smile and sparkling eyes. It was hard to believe she needed a diet, but because of her bizarre and slightly mysterious medical condition, she was stuck to a strict diet of food that came from plants, with as little artificial fats and flavors as possible. Mellie forced a smile and patted Kara's hand, which was set on the counter on top of a worn copy of _A Tale of Two Cities_.

"Kara, love, I'll only be gone an hour or two. If I'm not back by two, then you can just close up shop and leave the key in the crack of that loose brick under the window, all right? Bye then!" She was gone before Kara could protest.

Kara glanced at the clock; it was noon and her lunch break started in ten minutes. The little deli down the street was calling her name and Kara contemplated closing shop for lunch a little early. _Better to wait the ten minutes, _she thought to herself, _I can finish organizing that last stack before I head out. _

Smiling, Kara hummed a little tune and began organizing the copies of Dickens' works that made up the last stack of books, mentally trying to decide what kind of cheese she would have on her sandwich. Her stomach growled appreciatively at the thought of a nice thick sandwich on whole wheat with sharp cheddar cheese, ham, and turkey. She re-stacked the books and glanced at the clock. Five minutes until her lunch break. Just then, the bell on the door rung and it swung open.

"Excuse me," a high-pitched voice squeaked. Kara waved an arm and called,

"Over here. Welcome to the Dragon's Library. We're about to close for lunch so you might want to come back in a bit."

"That won't be necessary, I won't take but a minute," the voice squeaked. Kara wrinkled her nose as she stacked another Dickens novel; something was not right about the person who had entered the shop. She carefully lowered her fragile mental shields and reached out with her mind. Suppressing a gasp, Kara withdrew as soon as she found the person's mind. There were shields around its mind and it felt alien, unlike anything she had ever sensed. Kara stood and turned to face the speaker, trying not to look as though anything was wrong.

When she saw its face, Kara stifled a shriek. Human faces looked nothing like this mass of twisted flesh. The face of the creature in front of her looked like it was made of the clay she had played with as a child. It was an orange-red color and had two bulbous eyes set wider apart then human eyes. It's head was slightly larger than a human's and it had no hair but the claylike flesh on top of it's head was textured much like that of a baby doll's 'hair', merely lines on it's head. It had a mouth and nose in normal places, but the nose was molded largely and looked as though it would fall off at any moment. The mouth had no lips or teeth, yet the creature spoke easily,

"You are human, correct?" Its voice was still high and squeaky, but in a frightening way more than an amusing one. Kara nodded.

"Good," the creature said. With lightning speed, it put one rubbery hand around Kara's throat and squeezed. Kara struggled for a minute or so, kicking and clawing at the unyielding hands of the clay creature, then blacked out.

Moaning softly, Kara put a hand to her head and opened her eyes. As soon as they were open, Kara wished she had left them shut. She was in a cage, much like the one her old gerbil, Felix, had lived in. The cage was enormous and had wire walls and a floor made of plastic. A small hammock hung in one corner, and a large water jug sat on the floor next to it. Trembling, Kara pulled herself up by one of the bars and looked out. She was in a lab.

Plastic-faces like the one that had captured her were bustling around in blue smocks comparing notes and muttering in their own tongue. Kara took a breath and sat back down so the lip of the plastic blocked her view of the laboratory.

_Okay Kara, you can do this. First thing's first, are you hurt? _

Carefully, Kara did a once-over of her body. She had no broken bones and everything seemed to be working normally. However, she did have a bandage on the inside of her elbow as though she had been given an injection. Kara stood and once again peered over the rim of the plastic cage.

"What's going on? Why have you taken me?" she yelled frantically.

The outburst brought a result. Plastic-faces began muttering and four or five of them rushed over to the cage and studied her with large, watery eyes. Muttering in their own tongue, her observers got out several large needles. Kara rushed back to the farthest point away from them, pressing herself against the back bars of the cage.

"You keep those things away from me," she ordered, her voice trembling. One of the plastic-faces pushed through the little group staring at her, all the while yelling in their language.

"Human," it acknowledged stonily in English.

"Listen, I don't know why you've taken me but I demand to be released _right now_!" Kara shouted at the plastic-face.

"We're studying you. You cannot go home for a long time, if not ever."

Kara began to shake violently, "What are you going to do with me?"

"Tests," the alien replied calmly, "Your mental abilities are enormous, it seemed impossible that you were even human, but your DNA says you are. You were recommended for further study so we'll be examining everything about you."

For the first time in her life, Kara screamed out with her mind.

_HELP!!_

Terrified, she backed up even more against the metal bars of her cage. The plastic-faces were excitedly taking notes and staring at her intensely. One of them turned to speak to another plastic-face operating some equipment. Kara could guess from their tones that they were commenting on her.

"That was a lot of power," the plastic-face she had been talking to commented. "You registered unbelievably high on our scale of mental strength."

Kara was scared, she was imprisoned, and she was not being properly listened. In this case, she did what any other seventeen-year-old girl would do under similar circumstances.

"Really? I'm so pleased," she drawled sarcastically at the plastic-face. "My only goal in life has been fulfilled."

Just as she was about to comment on its looks and parental background, a strange sound filled the air, like a siren, or a screeching gate, but with a uniqueness of all its own. As the noise grew louder, a blue box appeared in the room, slowly fading into existence. Kara stared as her jaw dropped open. She could _feel_ a mind, an enormous living mind, inside the box, a mind that _was_ the box. On the top edge of the blue box it said 'Police Box'. There was more writing on the left hand door, but Kara couldn't quite make it out.

The plastic-faces were going crazy with confusion, all running about yelling in…English. Kara was puzzled but all their thoughts came out in English as well. _The box_. Kara was intrigued. As she was about to investigate the enormous mind that was the blue box, a man stepped out of the door. Rather lanky with brown spiky hair, he wore a suit and tie with a jacket, all topped off by a brown long coat with multiple pockets on it.

The man surveyed the scene and Kara could hear his thoughts, moving too fast for her to figure out who he was and what was going on. She caught one thing though, Doctor. His name was the Doctor. As he caught sight of her, his cheeky expression darkened and he turned to the plastic-faces.

"According to article 7594 of the Galactic Charter, this is illegal. This human is an individual, though she may not be overly intelligent, she does live on a level five planet, and interference in the going-abouts of developing species is against the law. She is to be returned at once."

_Not overly intelligent?_ Kara thought angrily. However, the Doctor seemed to know what he was doing so Kara kept quiet.

"She has human DNA, but we don't think she's human. She's a karthlei."

"A what?" the Doctor asked incredulously.

"A karthlei. A species who is not all of one species. The human word is…mutt? Her DNA says human, but look at these psychic readings, they're off the charts."

The Doctor inspected the readings. His thoughts had slowed a little and Kara could catch glimpses of what was going through his head.

"Exposure to alien substances while in the womb," one plastic-face said, reading from a computer screen. His mind was full of images of what they would do to her. Most of them were looking forward to cutting her open to see how she worked. The Doctor put on a pair of blue-rimmed glasses and squinted at the readings. Suddenly, his eyes widened and shields went up around his mind. He turned and looked at Kara.

"Up until just now, could you read my mind?" His voice was curious, yet deadly serious.

"I could catch little pieces," Kara said, "They went too fast to make out everything, but there are so many strange things in your head."

The Doctor nodded, "Right then, you," he turned to the plastic-faces, "Will have to release her. She is human and this is as illegal as it was oh, ten minutes ago." He drew out a piece of metal that was about fifteen centimeters long or so and pointed it at Kara's cage. A blue light turned on at the end of the little cylinder and a door popped open on the metal. Kara inched forward and then hurried out of the door before it disappeared.

"You cannot take custody of the human," the plastic-face protested.

"And why not?" the Doctor replied. Kara scurried over to stand next to him, her eyes darting around and her mind listening for any plans to re-cage her.

"She is ours!" The plastic-faces started forward.

"Sorry we can't stay, things to do," the Doctor said dismissively. He took Kara by the arm and pulled her through the doors of the box.

Looking around, Kara's jaw dropped open.

"It's bigger on the inside."

"Yeah," the Doctor said. "Time Lord technology and all that. Listen, don't try and touch minds with the TARDIS all right? It'd kill you."

"TARDIS?" Kara asked, confused.

"This ship," the Doctor explained. "It's psychic. Stands for time and relative dimensions in space."

"You're a…Time Lord then?"

"Yes, I'm--"

"You're the last one," Kara said. The shields on his mind had dropped and the information jumped out at her. "Your home world, Gallifrey, burned in the Time War. You fought. Your children, they--"

The doors to his mind slammed shut.

"Don't do that." he ordered. Kara could taste his emotions, the bitter tang of regret that stained the memories she had seen.

"Sorry, your mind was open and it showed me. I saw so much in those few seconds. You've had companions. One of them was called…Rose. You--"

"Yes." His voice was tight.

"I'm sorry."

"Do you want to go home now?" he asked.

"Can I stay with you? You don't have someone right now." Her voice was full of hope.

His expression softened a little, "Well," the cheeky grin appeared.

Kara beamed, "Is that a yes then?"

The grin widened, "Yea. It is. What's your name?"

"Kara. Kara Angel."

"Well then Kara Angel, welcome aboard."


End file.
